Schlagwort: raspi

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Over the last few months, Pratham Education Foundation and Code Club have successfully piloted a programme across 40 villages in rural areas of two Indian states, supporting children and young volunteers there to get hands-on with coding. 

Pratham (pratham.org.in) is one of India’s largest NGOs (non-governmental organisations). It was established in 1995 with the aim of providing educational opportunities for young people living in the slums of Mumbai. 

To lay the groundwork for their collaboration with Code Club, Pratham first held a series of village meetings at which 16- to 25-year-olds could sign up to become Code Club volunteers. They attended a training session to build their confidence and learn how to set up a Raspberry Pi computer, use Code Club Scratch projects, and share their coding skills with young people attending their Code Clubs. 

The kits needed for these Code Clubs each contained a Raspberry Pi computer, keyboard, monitor, and a mouse and were provided by Pratham.

Success story

The initiative was a remarkable success: 1109 Code Club members took part and 50 young adults trained as volunteers. The Pratham Code Club project has now funded 244 Code Clubs across 40 villages in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. 

The aim was to introduce youngsters to coding and digital technology, while adults learned how to become Code Club leaders. 

One of the youth volunteers summed up the Code Club’s importance: “It is only because of these sessions that I was introduced to this world of computers and I know what coding means.”

To partner with Raspberry Pi in India, email india@raspberrypi.org. To help Code Club grow in other countries, email hello@codeclubworld.org. 

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Free legal ROMs for RetroPie and Lakka

Many ROMs are protected by copyright, and it is illegal to download copyrighted ROMs from the internet. But there are lots and lots of legal ROMs for RetroPie and Lakka. We use these ROMs to test out Lakka and RetroPie, and to demonstrate how to set up games consoles. We thought it’d be a great idea to put all these ROMs in one place where our readers can find them.

See also:

Homebrew games for Raspberry Pi

Some holders of the original copyright have given their blessing for games to be distributed across the internet. There is also a new kind of game, called ‘homebrew’. These are modern games that are developed for classic hardware. If you think retro gaming is just about old games, then we’ve got some great news. Thanks to the homebrew scene, new games for old systems are appearing all the time. Original games rub shoulders with ‘demakes’, modern games on old systems. We’ve picked a few of our favourites and provided links for finding out more.

Blade Buster (NES)

This is one of our favourite homebrew games for Raspberry Pi. Blade Buster is a vertical shoot-‚em-up. Developed by High Level Challenge, it pushes the classic NES system to its limits, with incredibly high production values.

Nozedyve (ZX Spectrum)

Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror episode Bandersnatch made headlines with its innovative ‘choose your own adventure’ format. It was riddled with references to the home computer scene of the 1980s, ‘Tuckersoft’ being based on Liverpool powerhouse Imagine. ZX Spectrum enthusiast Matt Westcott was commissioned to bring one of the featured games, Nozedyve, to life.

Alter Ego (PC, Linux, ZX Spectrum, NES)

In this platform game, you control our hero and his mirrored twin (the ‚alter ego‘). When you move, the alter ego moves in the opposite direction and you can switch between both characters. Click here to get Alter Ego.

Anguna (Nintendo DS, Gameboy Advance)

This homebrew role-playing game (RPG) features five dungeons and a large overworld to explore. In Anguna, you’ll explore hidden rooms and fight enemies and boss monsters. Like most RPGs you’ll find multiple weapons and swords, plus magic boots and other items.

Nova The Squirrel (NES)

Fancy a platformer for the NES? Then Nova The Squirrel is the one to get. Completely open, you can view its source code on GitHub. With a bit of investigation you should be able to make your own levels. There is also a generic version of the engine, which you could use as a starting point to build your own NES platform game.

Super Boss Gaiden (SNES Playstation)

Super Boss Gaiden is a game made for the ultra-rare Nintendo Playstation prototype console that never made it to market. In the game, a company president learns about the existence of the prototype and goes on a rampage.

Tanglewood Demo (Sega Mega Drive / Genesis)

Tanglewood is a brand new puzzle-platform game for the classic Sega Mega Drive console. You can purchase the game as a cartridge, and it’s going to be coming soon to PC, Mac, and Linux. A demo for the game is available via free download.

Hibernated One (ZX Spectrum / Commodore 64 / Amstrad CPC)

In Stefan Vogt’s Hibernated One adventure you play Olivia, awakened from hibernation when an alien spacecraft traps her ship, Polaris-7, in a tractor beam. With no communication from the other craft and surrounded by death and decay, can she escape? This is a text adventure in the classic style and the opening chapter in an ongoing series.

Halo 2600 (Atari 2600)

Yes, you read that correctly and yes, we are talking about Microsoft’s legendary Halo franchise. Remarkably, unlike many demakes that can infringe copyright, Halo 2600 was written by Ed Fries, leader of the original Xbox project, and has been given Microsoft’s blessing. Some cartridges were manufactured by AtariAge, although you can download the game for free.

Teeter Torture (MAME)

Teeter Torture is an original from 1982 which has now been released free of charge for non-commercial use by Exidy. It has mysterious origins and only one cabinet is known to exist, which luckily still works! You control a cannon on a trolley that balances on a barrel of TNT. Shoot the aliens or they’ll topple you over, triggering the detonator.

Relentless (Commodore 64)

Relentless 64 is a homebrew of a homebrew. Originally, the Amstrad CPC version was the winner of a 16kB cartridge competition in 2013 and was so well received it was commercially released on cassette. The game is a classic shoot-’em-up and lives up to its name as there’s no pause and no bosses – it just gets harder and harder.

More legal ROMs for RetroPie / Lakka

Need more games for your console? These sites are full of homebrew and legal downloads.

World of Spectrum

The admins of this site have been thorough in getting clearance to host the many thousands of games available.

MAME Official Site

A selection of legal ROM downloads of classic arcade machines can be found on the MAME website.

Vintage Is The New Old

A massive collection of homebrew software for many different platforms can be found on Vintage Is The New Old.

Homebrew Legends

A community-focused site, Homebrew Legends is essential for keeping up with the latest releases
.

Gremlin Graphics World

Gremlin Graphics was one of the great British video game development houses of the 1980s. Gremlin Graphics World has permission to distribute all Gremlin Graphics video games with „permission from the software house itself“. Rediscover old classics such as Monty Mole, Thing on a Spring, and Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge.

A warning on downloading ROMs

Remember. It is illegal to download copyrighted ROMs from the internet. The MagPi does not endorse video game piracy and strongly recommends that you stick to emulators that do not use any protected software, such as BIOS files, and stick to game downloads that are offered with the consent of the rights holder.

Reading Time: 6 minutes

In this tutorial we will be turning our simple one-screen space shooter into a scrolling shoot-’em-up! You’ll learn how to use PICO‑8’s handy map editor to quickly and easily draw out levels, and how to use the sprite editor to create terrain tiles. We’ll talk about using sprite flags to distinguish between background and foreground and how to spawn enemies. Speaking of which, we’ll also talk about level design basics and introduce a new turret enemy type to add extra spice and challenge to your game. There’s lots to get through, so let’s get started!

You’ll need

• PICO-8

• Raspberry Pi

• Keyboard and mouse

• To have completed the earlier parts of this retro game design tutorial

• Download the code for this tutorial here

A blank canvas

Much like every other aspect of game development, PICO-8 has a quick and easy solution for designing levels. Switch to the map editor by selecting it from the editor menu at the top right. At first glance, it looks a lot like the sprite editor, with the same sprite sheets and drawing tools at the bottom of the screen. The difference is that, instead of plotting coloured pixels, the map editor paints with our finished sprites. Try this out by selecting a sprite and drawing on the canvas above.

Chunks of dirt

We can’t build a level out of enemy and player sprites – that would be sheer insanity! PICO-8’s map editor is grid based, so we’ll need to create some new terrain sprites that we put together as tiles. Figure 1 shows a 3×3 square of sprites that can be tiled easily, with a couple of variations along the side. Switch to the sprite editor and create something similar. We’ve chosen suitably weird-looking purple asteroids for our terrain, and we’ve also created simple background sprites out of a chequer-board ‘dither’ pattern that we can use to imply depth.

Tiles for miles

Now we have our raw level-making material, let’s start working with it. Switch back to the map editor. You can zoom the canvas with the mouse wheel and pan with the pan tool. Hit the SPACE bar to view gridlines, and you’ll see that your canvas is 128×64 tiles, with grid reference (0, 0) being the top-left tile. As PICO-8’s screen resolution is 128×128 pixels, and each tile is 8×8 pixels, a single screen in PICO-8 is 16×16 tiles. Use your terrain sprites to draw some asteroids in the top-left 16×16 tiles of the canvas.

Mapping it all out

Let’s see what this looks like in game. First of all, comment out the enemy wave code, so that we can explore our level without being rudely interrupted by space blobs. You can use –[[..]] for block comments. Next, add map(0,0,0,0,128,64) to _draw() just after where we draw the background stars. This function tells PICO-8 to draw a 128×64 block of tiles starting from tile reference (0,0) on the map to coordinates (0,0) on the screen. Run your game and you should now see your asteroids. Great work, but it’s all rather static – let’s get this level scrolling!

Look into the camera

To turn our game into a scrolling shoot-’em-up, we will need to use a scrolling camera. Declare new variables camx,camy = 0,0 in _init() for the camera’s coordinates. Next, add camx+=1 to the start of _draw(), followed by camera(camx,camy) which sets the top left of PICO-8’s built-in camera to these coordinates. We’ve modified our player, laser, and draw background, score, and game-over message code to be locked to the new camera coordinates. As the map is only eight screens long, we’ve also written a cheeky bit of code to move the camera and player to the next row on the map when it reaches the end.

A red flag

Modifying the code is mainly a matter of changing boundaries to be set to camx and camy instead of arbitrary values; we’ll also add player.x+=1 to _update() so that the player scrolls with the camera. See the code listing for more details. You’ll have probably noticed that we can fly straight through the terrain unimpeded, so let’s add terrain collision detection. We’ll use sprite flags to do this. Set the sprite flags (those radial buttons above the sprite sheet tabs in the sprite editor) of each of your terrain tiles so that flag 0 is on. It should light up red.

Deep impacts

Sprite flags are a way of ‘marking’ sprites. In this case, we will treat any sprite with flag 0 as solid terrain that our player can crash into. To actually detect the collision, we’ll create a new function player_terrain_collision() which will check four points of a square around the player’s coordinates, retrieve whatever sprite is there, and return true if that sprite has flag 0 activated. Then we’ll add few lines in our update loop that’ll call that new function and kill the player if it returns true. We nearly have everything in place!

Enemy placement

Next, we want to slightly modify our enemy code so that instead of spawning in endless waves, we can place them in our level and they will attack when they appear on camera. See the code listing for the changes. To place enemies in the level, we will use one of our existing enemy sprites in the map editor. Then we will add a few lines to _init() that will check every map tile for enemy sprites and spawn enemies when it finds them – simple! Now that we can place terrain and enemies, we can begin the level design proper.

Flow state

Level design is as much an art as it is a science. For every rule of good level design, there are a hundred examples to prove it wrong. That being said, for your first few levels there are certainly some guiding principles you can follow. It’s a good idea to start simple and gradually increase the challenge as your players become better at the game. This is to keep players in a satisfying state of ‘flow’ where a level is not too easy as to be boring, or too hard to be frustrating.

Difficulty curve

In our space shooter, difficulty is determined by the number and location of enemies and the placement of terrain. Modifying these factors allows us to control the challenge and ideally create a smooth ‘difficulty curve’. In our level, enemies are introduced singularly at first, then in increasing numbers. Terrain is then introduced, then enemies and terrain, and lastly challenging combinations of both. You can see how new elements are introduced one at a time and in situations that allow the player to learn their behaviour before the difficulty is increased.

Reinforcements

Variety is the spice of life and although our green blobs from space have a certain appeal, it is the introduction of new elements, or new combinations, that keeps a level entertaining. That’s why we’ve created a new enemy type, the turret. You can see the code, but essentially it is a malignant mutant that fires a mucus projectile at the player every few seconds. How delightful! This gives us more possibilities for interesting combinations with the other elements in our game; for example, turrets in an asteroid field or amongst waves of enemies.

A happy ever after?

So, your player has defeated every wave of enemy, dodged every asteroid, and made it to the end of your level. What now? Well, the polite thing to do would be to reward them in some way, or give them one final gigantic boss battle. Either way, we will need a congratulations message to tell the player that they are the saviours of mankind. As a final touch, we’ve added a message that will show when the player makes it all the way to the end. Well done space fighters, the galactic federation thanks you!

Top tip

Sprite flags

Sprite flags are extraordinarily useful for lots of things, such as distinguishing between drawing layers or marking objects that collide.

About the writer

Dan Lambton-Howard is an independent game designer based in Newcastle upon Tyne, where he is lucky enough to make games for his PhD.

For earlier parts of this retro game design tutorial click here.

Code for this tutorial can be downloaded here.

Reading Time: 4 minutes

If you’re anything like us, you probably spend many hours liking, following, and friending on social media. But have you ever pondered how this kind of digital interaction might transfer to the real world? It’s a concept that interactive artist Tuang Thongborisute wanted to explore, leading her to create the ‘Social Media without the Internet’ interactive performance art project.

Tuang Thongborisute is a Raspberry Pi enthusiast, NCCE facilitator, teacher, and coder who enjoys creating new projects and hacks to inspire others to start learning.

The original idea for the ‘Social Media without the Internet’ came from her research into a ‘digital sense’. “Its hypothesis says that people nowadays might gradually develop an additional sense to perceive digital contents,” she says.

Social Media without the Internet was created “to investigate people’s familiarity of social media’s data and interactions in the physical world, and to explore the digital sense by applying it to the sense of touch.”

Part of the inspiration also came from a curiosity to examine society’s sceptical thoughts about the lack of physical interaction in online communication and to see if physical interaction is significant to a meaningful connection.

Social interactions

To explore these themes, Tuang created the ‘Social Touch Suit’, a blazer featuring numerous electronic elements – controlled by a Raspberry Pi, aided by an Arduino – which enable people the wearer meets to engage in six social interactions.

‘Add friends’ is achieved by a handshake, connecting two conductive rings on the wearer’s fingers. “With some practice, it works naturally when interacting with people,” says Tuang.

‘Unfriending’ is easy: just a push of a button located on the left side – “near the heart, which most people [have had] broken at least once in a lifetime anyway.”

‘Following’ someone involves hand-holding, triggered by customised extendible strings with a microswitch. “Typically, people ask the wearer to follow them after they have followed the wearer for a while because at the end of the day, everybody also needs some attention back.”

‘Follow’ is a tap on a Velostat sheet (pressure-conductive resistant) on the right shoulder. “A good follower and friend would put their hand gently on the wearer’s shoulder.”

A ‘Like’ can be achieved via two interactions: a high-five, triggered by FSR pad attached to the edge of the right sleeve, or tapping a button on the 7-inch touchscreen.

‘Dislike’ is also done via the touchscreen – “I don’t remember anyone intentionally disliking me… except my best friends, who did it several times.”

In addition, three tiny cameras are attached to the blazer, to broadcast the interaction in real time using a local network for performing in a closed environment like an indoor gallery. “This feature mimics an action of social media users’ observation on other people’s interaction without any interference,” says Tuang.

Out and about

When wearing the blazer in public, Tuang found that people were curious or confused. “Some may hesitate to ask or interact, but some partake in face-to-face conversation,” she tells us.

“From these experiences, I think what’s interesting is that these data of physical interaction have more potential to come from a sincere feeling and determination after they understand how it works. Because no one can give this feedback remotely, there’s some work that needs to be done to give and receive the numbers and to actually do it face-to-face with one another.”  

Quick facts

• The electronics can be removed to wash the blazer

• A 1 m strip of 144 RGB NeoPixels was used to light up the sleeves

• Batteries are used to power Raspberry Pi and Arduino

• The blazer’s Raspberry Pi runs Python and Processing code

• Analogue input is read via an MCP3008 ADC

Reading Time: 3 minutes

You’ll need a spare hour or two to assemble the arm, using a large array of parts and different-sized screws. While the assembly guide booklet is well illustrated (and there’s a video guide online), we found a few confusing discrepancies, including an annoying bit where we assembled a section, only to have to dismantle it again to wire up the servos (as revealed on the next page).

Nor was any servo wiring information supplied – SB Components says a video should be uploaded to the product page soon. Based on the single wiring image shown in the booklet, we daisy-chained the servos in the same way (wire from servo below going into left socket, then wire from right socket to next servo up) and it worked.

The arm is mounted on a metal base with holes to secure a full-size Raspberry Pi. PiArm’s ‘shield’ board can then be mounted on the GPIO header, in which case it supplies power to your Raspberry Pi, or you can connect it via USB. The 7.5 V 5 A DC power supply has a barrel jack with an adapter with two wires that connect to two screw terminals on the shield – a slightly messy solution.

The kit also includes metal mounts to add a sensor (e.g. ultrasonic) and Camera Module (not supplied), although these fit to the base rather than the arm itself. With the arm assembled, you can insert the preloaded 16GB microSD card supplied into the Raspberry Pi to get started. Our card was blank, however, so we needed to install Raspbian and clone the PiArm GitHub repo.

Graphical interface

While the software is based around a PiArm Python library, a GUI interface makes getting started much easier and lets you program command sequences. An image of the arm is shown on screen, with two number fields for each of the six servos. First, you need to input an address in the Port field to open up a serial connection to the arm: ttyS0 if Raspberry Pi is connected via GPIO; ttyUSB0 if via USB.

One way to program the arm is to type in numbers for each servo to set an arm position. A far simpler way, however, is to disable the torque and then manually position the arm to the desired position with your hands and read in the numerical servo data. This enables you to quickly store a sequence of commands (called a ‘group’) which you can then play back; sequences can be saved as text files for future reuse.

Picking it up

The arm rotates smoothly on its base, thanks to ball bearings, and moves fairly quietly. We soon managed to get the arm to pick up a keyring with its claw and then put it back down again elsewhere. We did find the default speed a bit too much, though, with the arm’s more sudden movements sometimes being powerful enough to lift the base suckers off the table!

Fortunately, we were able to reduce servo speed levels to a preferable level, counter-intuitively by raising the setting to 800. Other servo parameters, such as angle and voltage range, may also be altered using another GUI program, although it’s not advisable to do so with the arm assembled.

A PlayStation-style wireless joypad is also supplied, enabling you to control the arm manually; in this case we found it slow to rotate and the arm automatically curled up while rising, but you can always alter the Python code to customise control. Indeed, you could use the PiArm Python library with your own programs.

Verdict

9/10

Excellent metal components and smart servos raise this robotic arm well above the level of cheaper entry-level rivals. The GUI interface makes it easy to program sequences, while advanced users could create their own programs based on the Python library.

Reading Time: 5 minutes

ALBATROS is one of our favourite daft things in science: a backronym. It was originally created to mean ‘Array of Long Baseline Antennas for Taking Radio Observations from the Subantarctic’, as it started on the island of Marion which has a lot of albatrosses.

“We want to make a map of the sky at low frequencies, to lay the groundwork for future observations of the cosmic ‘dark ages’ – the time before stars formed,” Taj Dyson tells us. He’s a physics student at McGill University in Canada, and recently took a trip to the McGill Arctic Research Station (MARS) to take radio astronomy measurements using equipment made in labs at McGill.

“What does frequency have to do with time?” Taj continues. “To understand, realise that the universe was mostly neutral hydrogen. This hydrogen naturally emits light, or ‘glows’, at a wavelength of 21 cm (or about 1400MHz in frequency). We know this frequency very precisely, and it’s emitted at the same frequency for all time. Due to the expansion of the universe, though, light from hydrogen that is further away is redshifted – that is, its frequency is reduced (in the Earth’s frame of reference). So, we can see light from hydrogen that is further away by ‘tuning’ our antenna lower in frequency.”

Looking for hydrogen in this way allows us to look into the past of the universe. While this is a technique pioneered in the sixties, human-generated radio waves have created interference that make it harder to do unless you’re in remote areas. There are other factors as well, such as solar activity, that make the polar regions very attractive.

“Getting several maps of the sky at several low frequencies would be the first step towards understanding a whole era of the universe that hasn’t been studied very extensively,” Taj explains, “laying the groundwork for future measurements that could provide insight into cosmological mysteries like dark matter or dark energy.”

History in the stars

At Marion Island in the subantarctic Indian Ocean, several radio antennas are currently in use taking measurements of the sky. Taj and his crew are looking at expanding the operation to MARS on the other side of the planet to create another ALBATROS – ‘Array of Long Baseline Antennas for Taking Radio Observations from the Seventy-ninth parallel.’

“MARS is new to this project,” Taj says. “The first time we visited was last summer, and that was just to have a look at how much RFI [radio frequency interference] there is up there. A first look at the data suggests that MARS is very radio-quiet and will be an excellent place for future observations!”

Next summer they will return to set up antennas, the data from which is processed through a Raspberry Pi.

“Raspberry Pi has many desirable features for our application,” Taj mentions. “It can communicate directly with our field-programmable gate array (FPGA)…  the very expensive circuit board that turns analogue antenna signal into zeroes and ones according to rules we tell Raspberry Pi to send it… Configuring also prints out various bits of information useful for troubleshooting. 

“Next, we run the actual data acquisition script (there are actually two types) on Raspberry Pi, which receives digitised signal from the FPGA through the Ethernet port. Raspberry Pi then writes that data to disk, either on the SD card for our small data volume mode, or on external SSDs for our huge ~10MB per second mode. 

“Of course, our Raspberry Pi also saves logs from both of these programs to the SD, so they can be looked at later when something doesn’t work or gets forgotten. Raspberry Pi consumes a relatively small amount of power, which is nice considering we want to make autonomously powered stations.”

Cosmic patience

An experiment like this takes time, though – you can’t just turn on the antennas and get an instant readout of the universe. It may take years.

“The short answer is I have no idea [how long it will take].” Taj admits. “We are funded to go to MARS for two more years, but we hope this is just the beginning of a much longer observing program. It’s going to take a lot of R&D, antennas, and time to reach our ultimate goal of mapping the universe during cosmic dawn and the dark ages.”

The results will be worth the wait, however. “First [let’s] talk about cosmic dawn,” Taj continues. “When the first stars formed, their heat excited the hydrogen around them, causing it to absorb the cosmic microwave background (CMB) at a very specific wavelength. Since this event happened so long ago, the wavelength is now very long (again, due to redshift) and our low-frequency equipment can pick it up. So, we expect to see a slight dip in signal at a certain frequency (since we don’t know exactly how long ago this happened, we don’t know at exactly what frequency). [Other results] saw a dip that was about twice as deep as predicted, which means hydrogen absorbed more radiation than expected. This could have all sorts of cosmological implications. I’m not going to bet on whether [this] result was real or not.

“[Secondly] the mapping of the dark ages is not going to test any theory; it’ll provide a baseline for future low-frequency measurements.”

We look forward to seeing results in the not-so-far future to take a look into the very-distant past. 

Testing the site

1. “At MARS, we had a main antenna set up at the base camp, and that was our main data-gathering tool. However, we also took smaller, more portable antennas with us on a helicopter.”

2. “[We took] a laptop and our data-gathering electronics – Raspberry Pi included – to take measurements in several different locations where we may put larger antennas in the future.”

3. “We thought maybe local topography would shield us a little from RFI (it’s strange: one typically thinks of an observatory on a hill, but really, for radio astronomy, we want to be in as steep a valley as possible!), but we didn’t see a difference by eye, looking at the spectra, between valleys and crests of hills.”

Quick facts

• This method of measuring low frequencies was pioneered by Grote Reber

• One person stays at the Marion site each year to maintain the generators

• This kind of radio astronomy is nice and low-budget

• The McGill team were joined by a member of EDGES from MIT

• Taj has shown off other projects at Maker Faires in America

Reading Time: 3 minutes

We asked Raspberry Pi specialist Wes Archer to run through the ideal build for a media player.

Wes shows us the right hardware to buy, including cases, cables, and remote controls. He then walks through the LibreELEC setup process.

Going above and beyond the basic setup, our Build a 4K Media Player feature demonstrates how to organise your media, add artwork, and automatically add information.

Click here to buy The MagPi magazine issue 87

Power up your kitchen with Raspberry Pi 

Get ready for the holiday season with lots of projects designed to make the most of your kitchen. Build a smart temperature scale, discover a kitchen computer, control a microwave, and make the perfect cup of coffee. All with Raspberry Pi.

Use a UK train departure screen

When one The MagPi maker wanted to find out the UK train times, they used Raspberry Pi and a small OLED screen to build a mini timetable departure board. Tapping into the Transport API enables this system to display the latest train times for any station.

Make a cluster computer

What’s better than a Raspberry Pi 4 computer? Four Raspberry Pi computers, of course! Raspberry Pi expert maker PJ Evans shows us how to wire multiple Raspberry Pi computers together to build a ‚bramble‘ (a powerful cluster computer). Once it’s made, you can learn supercomputing skills used by some of the world’s most powerful supercomputers. 

Hack a GraviTrax marble run

The MagPi hacker Mike Cook makes an amazing marble run with this GraviTrax hack. Add servos and light detectors to track a ball bouncing around your run, and trigger sounds and animations.

Learn to code with toys

We learn through play, and what better way to learn to code a computer than playing with toys designed to teach children just that? We’ve brought together a bunch of board games, electric gadgets, and low-tech toys that can be used to learn computational thinking skills. Sounds serious? Far from it. This is a fun way to learn computing (suitable for kids of all ages).

Plus! Win one of five SmartPi Touch 2 Touchscreen cases!

The MagPi is available as a free digital download, or you can purchase a print edition online or in stores.

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Save 37% off the cover price with a subscription to The MagPi magazine. Try three issues for just £5, then pay £25 every six issues. You’ll save money and get a regular supply of in-depth reviews, features, guides and other PC enthusiast goodness delivered directly to your door every month.

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Reading Time: 6 minutes

Radical robots

We couldn’t leave our little robotic friends out of our powerful projects round-up, now could we?

Robot Dinosaurs

Maker: Dr Lucy Rogers

It’s not often dinosaurs are disappointing, but when the animatronic dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight theme park Blackgang Chine kept failing, Lucy came to the rescue. Retrofitting the bespoke mechanics with off-the-shelf parts controlled by a Raspberry Pi, she made them easier and cheaper to maintain, with more movement options.

SoccerBots

Maker: Neil Lambeth

Neil wanted to show kids that robotics can be more than just a single ‘bot moving around, so he developed the SoccerBots, a pair of remote-controlled, ball-firing robots that try to score goals against each other. They’ve inspired hundreds of kids around the UK.

BioHex

Maker: Harry Brenton

Hydroponics is all the rage. Growing plants without soil produces amazing results, but requires careful monitoring and care. Harry’s BioHex is a 3D-printed modular plant-growing machine that uses a Raspberry Pi to analyse the environment, operate the air pump, and provide lighting control.

Open-Source Mars Rover

Maker: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Want your own Mars Rover? Of course, you do. After a successful educational outreach programme demonstrating a small version of its real rovers, NASA’s JPL created a new robot, ROVE-E, that is made of off-the-shelf parts and runs open-source software on a Raspberry Pi. It costs around $2500 to build.

Incredible AI projects

Build something super-smart with Raspberry Pi.

Google Coral 

Maker: Google

Coral is a range of AI products and projects made by Google. The latest star is the USB Accelerator. This dongle adds a Google TPU to Raspberry Pi, which rapidly boosts real-time classification – all local on the Raspberry Pi. Check out Teachable Machine in The MagPi 79.

Makoto Koike

It’s lovely to see one maker put AI tech into practice to solve a problem. Makato’s father grows cucumbers and straight ones with lots of prickles command a high price. Makato trained an AI robot to spot and sort them. Perhaps there are a number of production lines that could benefit from a little AI.

There’s Waldo 

Maker: Matt Reed 

Where’s Wally? (Or Waldo as he’s known in the US.) Matt Reed’s There’s Waldo robot is an irreverent demonstration of machine-learning. There’s Waldo uses OpenCV to extract all the faces from the page, and then sends them to Google Auto ML Vision service. This locates the striped one and sends it back to a Raspberry Pi, which points him out using a uArm metal arm.

Whoa! What is that?

Some projects are just so ‘out there’, they defy categorisation.

High-Altitude Ballooning

Maker: Dave Akerman

The world’s best computer is no stranger to space, often hitching a lift on the ISS. If you’d like to send a Raspberry Pi skyward, it’s easier than you think. Dave sends Raspberry Pi Zero computers up to 100,000 ft (30,480 m) in the air using helium balloons, taking amazing photos. His comprehensive blog shares an immense amount of knowledge.

3D Scanner

Maker: Richard Garsthagen

This project gets a special place on our ‘Whoa!’ list simply for 98 Raspberry Pi computers in use. Split over 19 poles, they provide a high-resolution 3D model of anything placed within the scanning area. Richard has not only written a great series of posts as the project has evolved, but has open-sourced many of the plans and code used.

Musical Tesla Coil

Maker: Derek Woodroffe

A Tesla coil as a musical instrument? Why not? Derek is famous in the community for his high-voltage antics. Here, a Raspberry Pi Zero can load MIDI files and convert each note to information that is sent to two coil driver boards. The result is your favourite tune rendered at 200 volts.

Flappy Brain

Maker: Albert Hickey

Mattel’s ‘Mind Flex’ toy appears to read your mind by measuring your brain wave activity. Egham Jam organiser Albert Hickey added an Arduino and Raspberry Pi to decode the output so you can play Flappy Bird. Move the bird down by thinking hard, then clear your mind to go up!

Flood Network Sensor

Maker: Ben Ward

Citizen-scientist Ben Ward has invented a cheap, serviceable alternative to expensive flood-monitoring systems for his home town of Oxford, using Raspberry Pi computers. The system bounces sound waves off the water surface to calculate the level. The reading is then relayed by radio (LoRa) to a central database. The project is now spreading across the UK.

Spin up a digital animation

Maker: Brian Cortell

Brian is an award-winning robot maker, active member of the Raspberry Pi community, and self-titled ‘head meat-bag’ of Coretec Robotics.

He is a regular at Raspberry Pi events up and down the UK and is most often seen with his Pi Noon balloon-battling robots or FacePlant, the two-wheel balancing creation he entered in this year’s Pi Wars. There is another one of his builds that caught our attention, a digital zoetrope (an early animation machine) that threw up some real technical challenges, in particular trying to drive twelve screens from one Raspberry Pi. The images on the screens can be updated in real-time when the zoetrope is spun.

What inspired you to build a zoetrope?

While I was researching the images of Eadweard Muybridge and the history of moving images, I was reminded of the zoetrope. I had a crazy idea that I could make a digital version bringing Eadweard Muybridge’s images to life.

What challenges did you face?

I had to control 12 screens on a single Raspberry Pi and design a circuit to be able to select each screen. Then I needed to write software to render images for the screens, modifying the driver software to upload an image in four blocks.

Are you happy with the result?

I’m pleased with the way the Digital Zoetrope turn out after I changed the shiny black acrylic to matt black and the wiring to black. It ended up being as I first imagined it would be.

Any improvements planned?

To make it more interactive and be able to import cells by taking a photo of a hand-drawn sheet of a one-second short film.

Are there any more zoetropes in your future?

Well, I have two projects planned. Hopefully, I will be making a second, larger, version of the Digital Zoetrope, using e-paper displays for Electromagnetic Field 2020 camp as an art installation, using twelve Pi Zeros and a Raspberry Pi 4 networked together. And of course, my annual robot build for Pi Wars.  

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Essentially, it’s a local network streaming service that allows you to stream games from a gaming PC to another computer hooked up to a screen. There used to be dedicated hardware for this, but it has been available for Raspberry Pi (and other hardware) for a while now.

With the release of Raspberry Pi 4 and Raspbian Buster, it’s taken some time to get a new version of the Steam Link app which works as well as it should. Over the last month or so, more stable versions have been released, so we thought it was time to give it a test.

Stream Link

Installing Steam Link is easy – it’s available from the Raspbian software repository so can be installed from the Terminal with a simple sudo apt install steamlink. We highly recommend a wired connection for this – and thanks to the Gigabit Ethernet on Raspberry Pi 4, it’s going to make a huge difference.

So much so that our gameplay experience was only hampered by the computer to which we connected. A WiFi-connected laptop stuttered a little, and had some frame tearing; however, similar performance is experienced on an actual Steam Link. From a dedicated gaming PC hooked up over Ethernet, it was a different story.

While the experience is not seamless and one to one, it was extremely good – definitely good enough if you have the odd PC game you’d rather play on your TV without lugging a massive tower around.

Verdict

8/10

Not perfect, but near enough that if you have a spare Raspberry Pi 4 and want to play some PC games on your TV, there’s no reason not to give it a try!

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Creative pursuits

Etch-a-Sketch Art With Python

Maker: Sunny Balasubramanian

A classic toy featuring in many people’s childhoods, the Etch-a-Sketch allows you to draw pictures without making a mess, then wipe the board with a satisfying shake. Sunny used servos and a Raspberry Pi to take control of the dials, then used edge-finding image filters to create an Etch-a-Sketch ‘camera’.

Cubert

Maker: Lorraine Underwood

A beautiful 8×8×8 structure of ping pong balls, each containing a NeoPixel to create amazing colour patterns, and you can even play 3D Pac-Man. Of particular interest is Lorraine’s blog and talks on the project, where she is brutally honest about the difficulties of making such a unique object.

Network Knitting Machine

Maker: Sarah Spencer

One of the must-see exhibits at 2018’s Electromagnetic Field camp was ‘Stargazing’ by Sarah Spencer. This map of the universe measures a colossal 4.6 by 2.8 metres and was knitted on a hacked Brother mechanical knitting machine, controlled by an Arduino and Raspberry Pi. It’s even networked.

True Compact Camera

Maker: Martin Parker

Raspberry Pi Zero can fit into some tiny places, but how about a vintage 110 format compact camera? Martin replaced the internals with a Raspberry Pi Zero and Camera Module. Don’t worry about film running out when your camera can take thousands of high-res snaps.

Pi Clock 2

Maker: Tim Richardson

Tim’s clock is made up of two 64×32-pixel displays and displays information being relayed from a Raspberry Pi-controlled weather station. It features some clever energy-saving extras, such as a motion sensor to only update the screen when someone is in the room. It’s been to Parliament as part of the one-millionth Raspberry Pi celebrations.

Take photos from space!

Maker: Surrey Satellites & University of Surrey

Space is hard. Space, when you’re not SpaceX or NASA, is extremely hard, but that didn’t stop Surrey Satellites. Having secured a slot on Soyuz, they launched the DoT-1 satellite, which had a Raspberry Pi and camera on board supplied by the University of Surrey. It had a simple task: take a photo from orbit using commercially available off-the-shelf parts. We spoke to Surrey Satellites’ Director of Engineering, Rob Goddard.

What inspired this project?

Whilst the primary objective of the DoT-1 (Demonstration of Technology) mission was to fly the company’s next-generation avionics, there was space for some additional experimental payloads, hopefully stimulating the interest of our younger engineers. One of those experiments, designed and implemented in conjunction with the University of Surrey Space Centre, was to capture an image from space using a commercial-grade Raspberry Pi Zero computer and camera, store the data, and downlink it via a new data handling system on board the satellite.

What challenges did you face?

It was a surprisingly easy project! We performed some screening tests on three Raspberry Pi Zero computers to select the best performing over-temperature, and then packaged the computer and camera into a metal box. The standard camera lens was changed for a fish-eye lens. The remaining electronics were completely untouched.

Are you happy with the result?

We were certainly pleasantly surprised by the quality of both the still imagery and video capture from Raspberry PI Zero and camera. There could be some credible applications for low-cost computers and cameras of this type. We’re considering flying them as inspection cameras to confirm deployment of solar panels, or to view robotic arm movement.

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Raspberry Pi newcomers ask us to explain the difference between Raspberry Pi 4 and the older Raspberry Pi 3B+ models.

Obviously, Raspberry Pi 4 is one better, but you can pick up a Raspberry Pi 3 for less money (and it’s more frequently found on sale). So should you buy the new Raspberry Pi 4, or pick up an older Raspberry Pi 3?

The first thing to note is that there’s currently only one Raspberry Pi 4 model, but there are quite a few different Raspberry Pi 3 models. Here are some of the options:

For the purposes of this article, we’re looking at Raspberry Pi 4 vs Raspberry Pi 3B+ (its closest predecessor). But there are many more Raspberry Pi boards available, including the smaller Pi Zero W and energy efficient Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+. As well as older Raspberry Pi 2 Model B and the Raspberry Pi 1 Model B.

Raspberry Pi 4 vs Raspberry PI 3B+: CPU, RAM, and graphics

Raspberry Pi 4 is a clear winner when it comes to pure specifications and hardware grunt. 

Raspberry Pi 4 sports a faster 1.5GHz clock speed processor (up from the 1.4GHz found on Raspberry Pi 3B+). 

Raspberry Pi 3 is no slouch, though: it also features a quad-core processor and the clock-speed of 1.4GHz is in the same ballpark.

When it comes to RAM, though, Raspberry Pi 4 is streets ahead. As well as the entry-level 1GB configuration, you can get a 2GB model or 4GB model. When it comes to electronics and engineering projects, 1GB is often enough.

Raspberry Pi 3 vs Raspberry Pi 4 performance

For desktop computing, the 4GB Raspberry Pi 4 is a whole different animal to the Raspberry Pi 3B+ (see: Raspberry Pi 4 your next desktop PC in The MagPi magazine issue 85).

Our extensive Raspberry Pi 4 benchmark tests show a tremendous increase in performance on the new Raspberry Pi 4 over Raspberry Pi 3B+ (and all earlier models):

Raspberry Pi 4 Specs and Benchmarks

Raspberry Pi 4: CPU and RAM

• Broadcom BCM2711, Quad-core Cortex-A72 (ARM v8) 64-bit SoC @ 1.5GHz

• 1GB, 2GB, or 4GB LPDDR4-3200 SDRAM (depending on model)

Raspberry Pi 3B+: CPU and RAM 

Connectivity and ports

Both models of Raspberry Pi offer a range of connectivity options, including wireless LAN, Bluetooth, Ethernet, USB, and a 40-pin GPIO header (used to hook up electronic components and add specially designed Raspberry Pi HATs (Hardware Attached on Top).

Raspberry Pi 4 has a modern implementation of most of the connections. While wireless LAN is up-to-date on both models, Raspberry Pi 4 has Bluetooth 5.0 with improved speed, range, and capacity; much faster USB 3.0 ports; and unconstrained Gigabit Ethernet (which is constrained by the USB connection on the older Raspberry Pi 3).

Both devices use a microSD card slot for loading the operating system and data storage.

Raspberry Pi 4 connectivity

• 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz IEEE 802.11ac wireless, Bluetooth 5.0, BLE

• Gigabit Ethernet

• 2 × USB 3.0 ports; 2 × USB 2.0 ports.

• Raspberry Pi standard 40-pin GPIO header

• 2-lane MIPI DSI display port

• 2-lane MIPI CSI camera port

• 4-pole stereo audio and composite video port

Raspberry Pi 3B+ connectivity

• 2.4GHz and 5GHz IEEE 802.11.b/g/n/ac wireless LAN, Bluetooth 4.2, BLE

• Gigabit Ethernet over USB 2.0 (maximum throughput 300Mbps)

• 4 × USB 2.0 ports

• Raspberry Pi standard 40-pin GPIO header

• 2-lane MIPI DSI display port

• 2-lane MIPI CSI camera port

• 4-pole stereo audio and composite video port

Display connectivity

When it comes to display connectivity,  Raspberry Pi 4 is quite literally twice as good. It sports not one but two HDMI ports, enabling you to run two display monitors. Raspberry Pi 4 is also capable of running 4K video (4096 × 2160 pixels) at 60 frames-per-second, making it ideal for modern media playback.

Raspberry Pi 3B+ has a single full-size HDMI connector, capable of running 1080p (1920×1080p). 

One upside to the Raspberry Pi 3B+ is you’re more likely to already have full-size HDMI cables around the house, but micro-HDMI to full-size HDMI cables are easy to source.

Raspberry Pi 4 display

• 2 × micro-HDMI ports (up to 4kp60 supported)

• H.265 (4kp60 decode), H.264 (1080p60 decode, 1080p30 encode)

Raspberry Pi 3 display

Raspberry Pi 4 vs Raspberry Pi 3B+ power

Raspberry Pi 4 introduced a new USB-C connector for power. However, its power demands are more stringent than Raspberry Pi 3B+ (which uses an older micro-USB connector).

Both devices support the separate Power over Ethernet (PoE) HAT if you wish to power the board directly from a power-enabled Ethernet line (handy for remote networking locations).

Raspberry Pi 4 power 

• 5V DC via USB-C connector (minimum 3A*)

• 5V DC via GPIO header (minimum 3A*)

• Power over Ethernet (PoE) enabled (requires separate PoE HAT)

* A good-quality 2.5A power supply can be used if downstream USB peripherals consume less than 500mA in total.

Raspberry Pi 3B+ power

Which Raspberry Pi should I buy?

We think both Raspberry 4 and the previous Raspberry Pi 3B+ models are great choices. You can learn about electronics and programming pretty well on both devices, although the faster processor and higher levels of RAM provided on Raspberry Pi 4 make it a much more versatile desktop computer. It also supports more demanding software, such as Scratch 3 (which only runs on the newer Raspberry Pi 4).

It makes for a much more versatile machine, too, with better internet support. And retro game emulation is much improved on the newer Raspberry Pi.

But if what you want is to play around with electronics and code, or build a low-cost media player, then Raspberry Pi 3B+ remains a good option (especially if you can pick one up at a reduced price). 

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Photo projects

Take amazing shots with Raspberry Pi.

Drop Pi

Maker: David Hunt
Take incredible shots of water droplets, using a Raspberry Pi as a controller for a solenoid valve and camera trigger. The valve is hooked up to the GPIO pins and a small piece of code opens the valve and triggers the camera. The code is timed for a valve 40 cm above the surface of the water. It’s a great example of how Raspberry Pi can be used to control an environment and camera, plus a good excuse to learn how to control valves.

StereoPi

Maker: Eugene Pomazov
Since 2014, Raspbian has offered built-in support for stereoscopic photography. With two cameras attached to a Raspberry Pi, you can create 3D photographs and record 3D video. You’ll need a Raspberry Pi Compute Module (which has support for two Camera Modules). The compact and light nature of StereoPi makes it particularly useful for attaching to drones and robots.

Advanced gaming builds

Strictly for fun, these masterful makes put a smile on your face.

Heverlee Sjoelen

Maker: Grant Gibson
When Belgium beer brand Heverlee approached prolific maker Grant Gibson for promotional ideas, he was reminded of Sjoelen, a shuffleboard game popular in Germany and Belgium. The result was a Raspberry Pi-powered physical game and vending machine mash-up that dispensed cold cans of beer to the winners.

The Claw

Maker: Ryan Walmsley
Ryan’s ever-popular claw machine is often seen at Raspberry Pi events throughout the UK. An upcycled bar-top ‘grabber’ game, this one can be played over the internet. Use your computer or mobile phone to try to grab Babbage the Bear (gently) as the results are live-streamed to you.

OutRun Bar-top

Maker: Matt Brailsford (aka Circuitbeard)
What separates Matt from the crowd is his exquisite attention to detail. This OutRun Deluxe bar-top features fully working controls, such as gear shifting and a steering wheel. Add the pedals, repurposed from an wheel controller, and custom bodywork and this is a classy project.

Take to the seas in your autonomous yacht

Maker: AI Coventry (Coventry University)
Balazs Bordas, Mark Tyers, Sergiu Harjau, Shahzad Haider, also known as AI Coventry, AI Coventry is making serious progress with autonomous vehicle technology. Sergiu Harjau and team entered their aquatic vehicle, ‘The Rabb__it’, in an autonomous boat challenge in China. We asked Sergiu all about it.

What inspired you to build a self-sailing boat?

I first started having an interest in autonomous vehicles when I had to choose a project for a second-year module. I first built an autonomous RC Car, driven by Raspberry Pi Zero[…]. That got some traction in the university and then a lecturer offered me a spot on the autonomous boat team in Finland. We use the project as a way to broaden our skill set, both from a software standpoint but also when it comes to electrical engineering, and so far it’s been working wonderfully.

What challenges did you face?

Autonomous vehicles are a bit like chess in some ways. It’s very easy to understand how it’s all meant to work, but it’s really hard to go ‘deep’ and create beautiful systems which work without a single flaw[…]. In China, our biggest challenge which we didn’t foresee was the weather. The humidity and extreme heat rendered some of our sensors faulty, spitting out random data at unpredictable times. Even still, we pursued our goals and in the end managed to fix some of the issues and came home with a pretty good result.

Are you happy with the outcome?

Yes, in our latest trip we did way better than our past ones, but even still we weren’t perfect. We’re very happy to call it a learning experience and go from there. On the flip side, we were very organised, more prepared than any team out there if I’m honest, and that allowed us to quickly fix our issues when we needed to. In the end, we managed to get third prize, and we’re very happy with the result.

Any improvements planned?

We’re going to be looking at spending a little bit extra on our compass sensor to ensure it doesn’t get de-calibrated as often as it did in China. We suspected there were power lines under the lake, and that didn’t help our autonomous sailing.

What plans do you have for your next vehicle?

Since autonomous vehicles and embedded systems are two of my favourite pastime activities, my next big project will again bring the two together. I’ll be helping my lecturer Dr David Croft to deliver a hardware-software platform for a new master’s course next year: ‘Connected autonomous vehicles systems’. We’re planning on building an RC car with capabilities to become autonomous on an ROS software interface. It’s not going to be easy, to say the least, but I hope that through my other projects I have managed to gain the necessary skills to pursue yet another interesting endeavour.

Inspired by these amazing Raspberry Pi makes? Look out for part II of our amazing projects feature tomorrow…

Reading Time: 4 minutes

For a lot of the people who do a lot with Raspberry Pi, they’ve been here since day one – 29 February 2012. Sean Raser, on the other hand, didn’t even learn about Raspberry Pi until early 2015, but that hasn’t stopped him from teaching about it, putting on events about it, or running a Code Club using the Raspberry Pi Foundation resources.

“I have held Jams in both my local community (Castro Valley) and through my school district (San Ramon Valley Unified School District),” Sean tells us. “I also teach ‘Physical Computing with Raspberry Pi’ classes through our local Education Foundation, which take place after school, as well as during holiday breaks and summer. I am also the leader of the Castro Valley Code Club, which I started just around one year ago (right after I attended Picademy).”

The Castro Valley Jam is his big community Raspberry Jam, with attendees from all walks of life trying out Raspberry Pi projects. Sean’s school-based Raspberry Jam is aimed more towards middle- and high-school students, though.

Do you use Raspberry Pi in your high-school classes?

I absolutely do! I have used them a few different ways. I have used them as their own separate unit, where we spent a chunk of time dedicated to Raspberry Pi mixed in with other content from the class. I first introduced them, and then afterwards I let the students work on their own projects that they either chose or found online. They had a few weeks total to spend using them.

Another way I tried involved working them in throughout the class all year long. For example, I dedicated each Friday to Raspberry Pi. At first, they were taught how to use them, but afterwards they were free to be creative and either work on a year-long project, or many projects over the year.

How was Picademy?

I attended Picademy Denver 2018, and it was, and has been, the greatest workshop I have ever attended. I learned so many practical things that I could take (and have taken) right back to the class and start using right away. Many of the classes I teach outside of school are based around the Picademy lessons, and when I introduce Raspberry Pi in my high-school classes I use many similar lessons from Picademy.

I like how most of the lessons have the participants just jump right in to the code, and explain it after they have seen it running. This was different from what I did before, but I have had a better experience with it this way. I met so many wonderful educators at Picademy that I still keep in touch with. The network of educators that you are introduced to and stay in touch with is the most amazing, beneficial part of Picademy. I would encourage anyone on the fence about applying to take the next step and apply!

Any Raspberry Jam advice?

When it comes to Jams, there is no right or wrong way that they have to be run or put together. I have found that they are all different, which is really what makes them such a great experience. Every situation is going to be different, and I have found that just going for it, while not always the best advice for every situation in life, has worked for me. I still get nervous the night before each Jam, but it’s a good, excited nervous. 

Also, I have always felt absolutely great after every single Jam. They don’t always run exactly the way I had planned, and there are always bumps in the road, but at the end of the day I know that the people who attended were able to meet, talk, code, share, and learn. Who could ask for a better day than that?  

Fun with Minecraft

“One of my personal favourite uses I have gotten from Raspberry Pi is being able to expose my young son to coding at such a young age. He loves Minecraft, so being able to show him any basic Python programs that modify Minecraft blows him away. The Minecraft camera that can take his picture then build it in his Minecraft world blows him away.”

Reading Time: 4 minutes

For a lot of the people who do a lot with Raspberry Pi, they’ve been here since day one – 29 February 2012. Sean Raser, on the other hand, didn’t even learn about Raspberry Pi until early 2015, but that hasn’t stopped him from teaching about it, putting on events about it, or running a Code Club using the Raspberry Pi Foundation resources.

“I have held Jams in both my local community (Castro Valley) and through my school district (San Ramon Valley Unified School District),” Sean tells us. “I also teach ‘Physical Computing with Raspberry Pi’ classes through our local Education Foundation, which take place after school, as well as during holiday breaks and summer. I am also the leader of the Castro Valley Code Club, which I started just around one year ago (right after I attended Picademy).”

The Castro Valley Jam is his big community Raspberry Jam, with attendees from all walks of life trying out Raspberry Pi projects. Sean’s school-based Raspberry Jam is aimed more towards middle- and high-school students, though.

Do you use Raspberry Pi in your high-school classes?

I absolutely do! I have used them a few different ways. I have used them as their own separate unit, where we spent a chunk of time dedicated to Raspberry Pi mixed in with other content from the class. I first introduced them, and then afterwards I let the students work on their own projects that they either chose or found online. They had a few weeks total to spend using them.

Another way I tried involved working them in throughout the class all year long. For example, I dedicated each Friday to Raspberry Pi. At first, they were taught how to use them, but afterwards they were free to be creative and either work on a year-long project, or many projects over the year.

How was Picademy?

I attended Picademy Denver 2018, and it was, and has been, the greatest workshop I have ever attended. I learned so many practical things that I could take (and have taken) right back to the class and start using right away. Many of the classes I teach outside of school are based around the Picademy lessons, and when I introduce Raspberry Pi in my high-school classes I use many similar lessons from Picademy.

I like how most of the lessons have the participants just jump right in to the code, and explain it after they have seen it running. This was different from what I did before, but I have had a better experience with it this way. I met so many wonderful educators at Picademy that I still keep in touch with. The network of educators that you are introduced to and stay in touch with is the most amazing, beneficial part of Picademy. I would encourage anyone on the fence about applying to take the next step and apply!

Any Raspberry Jam advice?

When it comes to Jams, there is no right or wrong way that they have to be run or put together. I have found that they are all different, which is really what makes them such a great experience. Every situation is going to be different, and I have found that just going for it, while not always the best advice for every situation in life, has worked for me. I still get nervous the night before each Jam, but it’s a good, excited nervous. 

Also, I have always felt absolutely great after every single Jam. They don’t always run exactly the way I had planned, and there are always bumps in the road, but at the end of the day I know that the people who attended were able to meet, talk, code, share, and learn. Who could ask for a better day than that?  

Fun with Minecraft

“One of my personal favourite uses I have gotten from Raspberry Pi is being able to expose my young son to coding at such a young age. He loves Minecraft, so being able to show him any basic Python programs that modify Minecraft blows him away. The Minecraft camera that can take his picture then build it in his Minecraft world blows him away.”

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Read part one for more costume ideas!

This full-on cosplay by Mel Ridler has an electronic secret – simple LED lights for eyes that can change into flashing circles of doom. For those that know of the game Undertale, the light patterns represent how the character Sans looks when he unleashes his true power.

This simple build makes use of a Raspberry Pi Zero connected to a NeoPixel ring that is set behind some frosted acrylic. With the touch of a hidden pocket button, you can activate the eyes, turning them blue. Another press makes them flash yellow, and a final press turns them off.

Have you ever wanted to have tentacles growing out of your head? Probably not, we’d hope, but we can offer you the next best thing: a hat that makes it look like transdimensional tentacles are growing out of your head by Derek Woodroffe.

It’s actually quite an ingenious build, using several servos and plastic tentacle skeletons to make the stocking-based suckers wiggle and move freely on top of the hat. Some latex, sealant, and paint bits later and you have a very weird and kinda scary hat.

For a costume that is essentially a series of LEDs, there is a lot going on here. It’s fully autonomous, playing a preprogrammed light display, and can connect to wireless LAN to ape the light show that the builder’s house is playing as well.

The frame is welded together specifically to fit maker Wolfie’s granddaughter; however, you can make it fit whomever you’d like if making it yourself. It uses some custom 3D-printed parts to keep a Raspberry Pi and some batteries in place – at the time of making, it would last several hours.

Voice modification and LEDs are cool, but how about voice-controlled (and reactive!) LEDs? This fantastic project from the MATRIX Labs team turns a cheap Iron Man costume into a party piece that is sure to attract a few nerds.

The voice-controlled magic is handled by Snips.ai, a customisable piece of tech that allows you to create voice assistants that work under your control. You can set keywords, train it to make sure it understand your voice, and then hook it up to your MATRIX board.

The cyberpunk aesthetic will probably never go away, especially now that it’s easier than ever to install electronics into clothes, a bit like ‘The Jacket’ that maker CoreDump likes to wear at Halloween.

It’s a pretty standard leather jacket, albeit with some serious modifications. Not just style bits like neon lights and punk spikes, but also the fully functional Raspberry Pi installed into one of the sleeves for that ‘hacking-on-the-go’ look. There’s also a hidden action camera in one of the spikes, perfect for first-person video fun.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Read part one for more costume ideas!

This full-on cosplay by Mel Ridler has an electronic secret – simple LED lights for eyes that can change into flashing circles of doom. For those that know of the game Undertale, the light patterns represent how the character Sans looks when he unleashes his true power.

This simple build makes use of a Raspberry Pi Zero connected to a NeoPixel ring that is set behind some frosted acrylic. With the touch of a hidden pocket button, you can activate the eyes, turning them blue. Another press makes them flash yellow, and a final press turns them off.

Have you ever wanted to have tentacles growing out of your head? Probably not, we’d hope, but we can offer you the next best thing: a hat that makes it look like transdimensional tentacles are growing out of your head by Derek Woodroffe.

It’s actually quite an ingenious build, using several servos and plastic tentacle skeletons to make the stocking-based suckers wiggle and move freely on top of the hat. Some latex, sealant, and paint bits later and you have a very weird and kinda scary hat.

For a costume that is essentially a series of LEDs, there is a lot going on here. It’s fully autonomous, playing a preprogrammed light display, and can connect to wireless LAN to ape the light show that the builder’s house is playing as well.

The frame is welded together specifically to fit maker Wolfie’s granddaughter; however, you can make it fit whomever you’d like if making it yourself. It uses some custom 3D-printed parts to keep a Raspberry Pi and some batteries in place – at the time of making, it would last several hours.

Voice modification and LEDs are cool, but how about voice-controlled (and reactive!) LEDs? This fantastic project from the MATRIX Labs team turns a cheap Iron Man costume into a party piece that is sure to attract a few nerds.

The voice-controlled magic is handled by Snips.ai, a customisable piece of tech that allows you to create voice assistants that work under your control. You can set keywords, train it to make sure it understand your voice, and then hook it up to your MATRIX board.

The cyberpunk aesthetic will probably never go away, especially now that it’s easier than ever to install electronics into clothes, a bit like ‘The Jacket’ that maker CoreDump likes to wear at Halloween.

It’s a pretty standard leather jacket, albeit with some serious modifications. Not just style bits like neon lights and punk spikes, but also the fully functional Raspberry Pi installed into one of the sleeves for that ‘hacking-on-the-go’ look. There’s also a hidden action camera in one of the spikes, perfect for first-person video fun.

Reading Time: 7 minutes

There will be times when you can’t – or don’t want to – switch to your Raspberry Pi. Perhaps you’re using another computer, your Raspberry Pi is out of reach, behind your TV or a nest of cables or you’re on the road and have left your Raspberry Pi at home.
Fortunately, with VNC (Virtual Network Computing) – free for non-commercial use and built into the Raspbian operating system – you can access Raspberry Pi remotely from any other computer, tablet, or smartphone. Either on your home network, or via the internet.
In this walkthrough, we’ll be using VNC Viewer and VNC Server to connect on the fly to a Raspberry Pi from a Windows PC and an Android smartphone.

What you’ll need

• Raspberry Pi with Raspbian

• Network and internet connection

• VNC Server and VNC Viewer

Step 1: Enable VNC

First, make sure both your Raspberry Pi and the other computer you’re going to use are connected to the same network.

In Raspbian, click the applications menu icon (raspberry) at the top-left of the screen and select Preferences > Raspberry Pi Configuration. 

If you haven’t changed Raspbian’s password from the default ‘raspberry’, now is a good time to do so. Click the Change Password button and enter a new one. Now click the Interfaces tab, and set the radio button next to VNC to Enabled. Click OK. A VNC button appears in the top right of the screen, at the end of the menu bar. Click it to open VNC Server. 

Your IP (internet protocol) address will appear in the VNC Server Window (below Connectivity). Note down the four numbers; they enable you to locate your Raspberry Pi over the network.

Step 2: Open VNC Viewer

You’re now ready to connect to your Raspberry Pi from another computer. We’re going to use a Windows PC, but you can connect from a Mac, Linux PC, or even another Raspberry Pi on the same network. 

Because we’re using VNC Server on Raspberry Pi, it makes sense to use VNC Viewer on the Windows PC. VNC Viewer is available for macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS platforms, along with a web interface. Head to RealMac (magpi.cc/hTpNBm) and click Download VNC Viewer. Install and open the software.

Step 3: Connect to Raspberry Pi

Enter the IP address of your Raspberry Pi (the four numbers displayed in VNC Server) into the search bar of VNC Viewer (the part saying ‘Enter a VNC Server address or search’). Press RETURN to connect to Raspberry Pi.

The first time you do this, a window will appear with a warning: ‘VNC has no record of connecting to this VNC Server so its identity cannot be checked’. Click Continue.

You need to enter the username (typically ‘pi’) and password for your Raspberry Pi. Click on Remember Password and then OK to connect to Raspbian.

Step 4: Remote control

A window appears on your Windows PC displaying the Raspbian desktop interface from your Raspberry Pi. Move the mouse around the window and you’ll see the mouse moving around on your Raspberry Pi. You can now use this window to control your Raspberry Pi over the network (just as if you were sitting in front of it).

Hover the mouse at the top of the VNC Viewer window and a menu will drop down from the top of the screen. To the left of the Options is Enter Full Screen; click it and the preview window will take over the screen. Your Raspberry Pi display may not fit your PC display, so click the Scale button in the menu (so it’s set to Scale Automatically).

You will now be able to open apps and use your Raspberry Pi as if you were working directly on the small computer.

Step 5: Looking at properties

You can access Properties from the menu at the top of the VNC Viewer preview window, but we’re going to close down the preview window to access it from VNC Connect. Click End Session in the drop-down menu and Yes to disconnect. 

VNC Viewer now displays a small preview of your Raspberry Pi desktop in the Address Book, along with the IP address. You can double-click this at any time to reopen the connection – but first, right-click and choose Properties.

Enter ‘Raspberry Pi’ in the Name window; this will make your screen friendlier. Now click Options. The Picture Quality setting is set to Automatic by default. If you have a slow connection, try setting it to Low; alternatively, if you have a fast connection, set it to High. 

Finally, take a look at the Expert tab. Here you can find a variety of settings for all aspects of the system. Scroll down to find FullScreen and set the drop-down menu below from False to True. Now when you open Raspberry Pi in VNC Viewer, the preview window will automatically be in full-screen mode. Choose the options you prefer and click OK to set them.

Step 6: Get online

So far we’ve been working on our local network. With a RealVNC account, you can access your Raspberry Pi across the wider internet. 

Open VNC Viewer on your PC and click the Sign In button on the top left. It’s most likely that you don’t have an account already, so click ‘Sign up online’. This will take you to the RealVNC website.

Enter your email address and click the ‘I’m not a robot’ checkbox. Now create a password. Please choose a long and complex password that is not easy to guess. We suggest using a Diceware password generator (rempe.us/diceware). Follow the rest of the setup process and click on the email authentication when it arrives.

Step 7: Sign in

Now you need to sign in with the same account on both VNC Viewer on your PC and VNC Server on Raspberry Pi.

The Sign In window should still be displayed in the Sign In window in VNC Viewer on your PC. Open VNC Server on your Raspberry Pi and click Sign In to enable the cloud connectivity link (displayed just below your IP address under Connectivity).

Return to VNC Viewer on your PC. You’ll still see a Raspberry Pi window in the Address Book section, but below it you’ll see an option called Team (it will appear with your name). Click this to see your Raspberry Pi again. However, this is the connection using your VNC Connect account. Double-click it to launch into your Raspbian desktop and remote control.

The difference? This account works remotely, and you can use this from other networks.

Step 8: Send files

You can send and receive files from your Raspberry Pi and PC. We’ve created a blank test document in our Documents folder called test.txt. 

To send the file to your Raspberry Pi, access Raspberry Pi using VNC Viewer. From the VNC Viewer preview window, click the menu at the top of the screen and choose Transfer Files. 

Now click Send Files in the VNC Viewer – File Transfer window. Use the file picker to choose a file on your PC and click Open. The file will be sent to the desktop of your Raspberry Pi. A File Transfer window will appear with ‘Download complete’; close it. 

Step 9: Retrieve files

You can retrieve a file from your Raspberry Pi using VNC Viewer, although the process is slightly different. This time, right-click the VNC Server icon in Raspbian’s menu bar. Choose File Transfer from the drop-down menu to open the VNC Server – File Transfer window.

Click Send Files and choose a file on your Raspbian file system. Click OK to send the file to the desktop on your Windows PC.

Your Raspberry Pi is now set up for remote access. It’s now perfectly possible to remove the screen and keyboard from your Raspberry Pi and leave it on the network. It’ll be there waiting for you to connect from your PC whenever you’re ready.

Step 10: Android and iOS

It is also possible to connect to Raspberry Pi remotely from your smartphone. Use the VNC Viewer app for Android or iOS – download it from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store. Open and sign in using your VNC Connect account email and password.

You will see your Raspberry Pi under the Team menu. Click it and enter the username and password for your Raspberry Pi. 

When it first launches, you’ll need to run through the ‘Control the computer’ process. Click on Next and it will open the ‘How to control’ window. This screen outlines how to perform gestures such as mouse clicks from the touchscreen. Close this window and start using Raspberry Pi from your phone.

Use the touchscreen to move the pointer around. A virtual keyboard is accessed by tapping the Keyboard icon at the top of the app window. 

You can now access Raspberry Pi from anywhere, including your phone. A great solution for remote monitoring. 

Top tip 1: Technical information

You can find a wealth of detailed information on the RealVNC website. Take a look at this Technician’s Guide PDF: magpi.cc/JiSeZX

Top tip 2: Got a Mac?

Mac users must change the Authentication protocol to VNC password to connect using macOS’s native tools.

Reading Time: 7 minutes

There will be times when you can’t – or don’t want to – switch to your Raspberry Pi. Perhaps you’re using another computer, your Raspberry Pi is out of reach, behind your TV or a nest of cables or you’re on the road and have left your Raspberry Pi at home.
Fortunately, with VNC (Virtual Network Computing) – free for non-commercial use and built into the Raspbian operating system – you can access Raspberry Pi remotely from any other computer, tablet, or smartphone. Either on your home network, or via the internet.
In this walkthrough, we’ll be using VNC Viewer and VNC Server to connect on the fly to a Raspberry Pi from a Windows PC and an Android smartphone.

What you’ll need

• Raspberry Pi with Raspbian

• Network and internet connection

• VNC Server and VNC Viewer

Step 1: Enable VNC

First, make sure both your Raspberry Pi and the other computer you’re going to use are connected to the same network.

In Raspbian, click the applications menu icon (raspberry) at the top-left of the screen and select Preferences > Raspberry Pi Configuration. 

If you haven’t changed Raspbian’s password from the default ‘raspberry’, now is a good time to do so. Click the Change Password button and enter a new one. Now click the Interfaces tab, and set the radio button next to VNC to Enabled. Click OK. A VNC button appears in the top right of the screen, at the end of the menu bar. Click it to open VNC Server. 

Your IP (internet protocol) address will appear in the VNC Server Window (below Connectivity). Note down the four numbers; they enable you to locate your Raspberry Pi over the network.

Step 2: Open VNC Viewer

You’re now ready to connect to your Raspberry Pi from another computer. We’re going to use a Windows PC, but you can connect from a Mac, Linux PC, or even another Raspberry Pi on the same network. 

Because we’re using VNC Server on Raspberry Pi, it makes sense to use VNC Viewer on the Windows PC. VNC Viewer is available for macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS platforms, along with a web interface. Head to RealMac (magpi.cc/hTpNBm) and click Download VNC Viewer. Install and open the software.

Step 3: Connect to Raspberry Pi

Enter the IP address of your Raspberry Pi (the four numbers displayed in VNC Server) into the search bar of VNC Viewer (the part saying ‘Enter a VNC Server address or search’). Press RETURN to connect to Raspberry Pi.

The first time you do this, a window will appear with a warning: ‘VNC has no record of connecting to this VNC Server so its identity cannot be checked’. Click Continue.

You need to enter the username (typically ‘pi’) and password for your Raspberry Pi. Click on Remember Password and then OK to connect to Raspbian.

Step 4: Remote control

A window appears on your Windows PC displaying the Raspbian desktop interface from your Raspberry Pi. Move the mouse around the window and you’ll see the mouse moving around on your Raspberry Pi. You can now use this window to control your Raspberry Pi over the network (just as if you were sitting in front of it).

Hover the mouse at the top of the VNC Viewer window and a menu will drop down from the top of the screen. To the left of the Options is Enter Full Screen; click it and the preview window will take over the screen. Your Raspberry Pi display may not fit your PC display, so click the Scale button in the menu (so it’s set to Scale Automatically).

You will now be able to open apps and use your Raspberry Pi as if you were working directly on the small computer.

Step 5: Looking at properties

You can access Properties from the menu at the top of the VNC Viewer preview window, but we’re going to close down the preview window to access it from VNC Connect. Click End Session in the drop-down menu and Yes to disconnect. 

VNC Viewer now displays a small preview of your Raspberry Pi desktop in the Address Book, along with the IP address. You can double-click this at any time to reopen the connection – but first, right-click and choose Properties.

Enter ‘Raspberry Pi’ in the Name window; this will make your screen friendlier. Now click Options. The Picture Quality setting is set to Automatic by default. If you have a slow connection, try setting it to Low; alternatively, if you have a fast connection, set it to High. 

Finally, take a look at the Expert tab. Here you can find a variety of settings for all aspects of the system. Scroll down to find FullScreen and set the drop-down menu below from False to True. Now when you open Raspberry Pi in VNC Viewer, the preview window will automatically be in full-screen mode. Choose the options you prefer and click OK to set them.

Step 6: Get online

So far we’ve been working on our local network. With a RealVNC account, you can access your Raspberry Pi across the wider internet. 

Open VNC Viewer on your PC and click the Sign In button on the top left. It’s most likely that you don’t have an account already, so click ‘Sign up online’. This will take you to the RealVNC website.

Enter your email address and click the ‘I’m not a robot’ checkbox. Now create a password. Please choose a long and complex password that is not easy to guess. We suggest using a Diceware password generator (rempe.us/diceware). Follow the rest of the setup process and click on the email authentication when it arrives.

Step 7: Sign in

Now you need to sign in with the same account on both VNC Viewer on your PC and VNC Server on Raspberry Pi.

The Sign In window should still be displayed in the Sign In window in VNC Viewer on your PC. Open VNC Server on your Raspberry Pi and click Sign In to enable the cloud connectivity link (displayed just below your IP address under Connectivity).

Return to VNC Viewer on your PC. You’ll still see a Raspberry Pi window in the Address Book section, but below it you’ll see an option called Team (it will appear with your name). Click this to see your Raspberry Pi again. However, this is the connection using your VNC Connect account. Double-click it to launch into your Raspbian desktop and remote control.

The difference? This account works remotely, and you can use this from other networks.

Step 8: Send files

You can send and receive files from your Raspberry Pi and PC. We’ve created a blank test document in our Documents folder called test.txt. 

To send the file to your Raspberry Pi, access Raspberry Pi using VNC Viewer. From the VNC Viewer preview window, click the menu at the top of the screen and choose Transfer Files. 

Now click Send Files in the VNC Viewer – File Transfer window. Use the file picker to choose a file on your PC and click Open. The file will be sent to the desktop of your Raspberry Pi. A File Transfer window will appear with ‘Download complete’; close it. 

Step 9: Retrieve files

You can retrieve a file from your Raspberry Pi using VNC Viewer, although the process is slightly different. This time, right-click the VNC Server icon in Raspbian’s menu bar. Choose File Transfer from the drop-down menu to open the VNC Server – File Transfer window.

Click Send Files and choose a file on your Raspbian file system. Click OK to send the file to the desktop on your Windows PC.

Your Raspberry Pi is now set up for remote access. It’s now perfectly possible to remove the screen and keyboard from your Raspberry Pi and leave it on the network. It’ll be there waiting for you to connect from your PC whenever you’re ready.

Step 10: Android and iOS

It is also possible to connect to Raspberry Pi remotely from your smartphone. Use the VNC Viewer app for Android or iOS – download it from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store. Open and sign in using your VNC Connect account email and password.

You will see your Raspberry Pi under the Team menu. Click it and enter the username and password for your Raspberry Pi. 

When it first launches, you’ll need to run through the ‘Control the computer’ process. Click on Next and it will open the ‘How to control’ window. This screen outlines how to perform gestures such as mouse clicks from the touchscreen. Close this window and start using Raspberry Pi from your phone.

Use the touchscreen to move the pointer around. A virtual keyboard is accessed by tapping the Keyboard icon at the top of the app window. 

You can now access Raspberry Pi from anywhere, including your phone. A great solution for remote monitoring. 

Top tip 1: Technical information

You can find a wealth of detailed information on the RealVNC website. Take a look at this Technician’s Guide PDF: magpi.cc/JiSeZX

Top tip 2: Got a Mac?

Mac users must change the Authentication protocol to VNC password to connect using macOS’s native tools.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

We interviewed Luis Martin Nuez about this blood-curdling costume idea a few years ago. It’s very basically a Raspberry Pi with a Camera Module that displays what it sees on the screen live. The camera is attached to his back, with the screen on his stomach, and the preview mode is used to create the illusion that he has been shot through the stomach. Grisly.

As this is an older project, some of the parts may be unnecessary or easy to upgrade to better versions. We also recommend you use a screen solution that is powered by your Raspberry Pi so that you can use a portable battery charger instead.

The point of a Game Boy is that it’s small and you can fit it into your pocket. Turning yourself into a portable console as a costume sort of ruins that aspect of it, but at least you are then still portable.

The costume itself (by MikeHandidate) is very simple, with a couple of cardboard sheets painted to make it look like the classic Game Boy Color. It’s got a pretty big screen though, so it may need a bit more power than your standard mobile battery. Having the gloves work as custom controllers adds an extra level of complexity to the build; however, GPIO-based buttons are supported in RetroPie, so they shouldn’t be too hard to do.

This build combines many things we enjoy. Robots, simple electronics, googly eyes, flashing lights, and really fun, low-budget DIY construction.

Estefannie Explains It All used several technologies to power this suit, including Arduino supplies to power LEDs around the suit, a voice changer to giver herself a more robotic persona, and a Raspberry Pi to power the screen on the chest with several functions which are powered by a series of buttons. The jaw even moves depending on how she speaks!

And of course, it’s built using cardboard boxes and silver tape, meaning just about anyone can make the body.

Voice changers/amplifiers make for excellent parts in a scary costume, especially when installed in a scary skull mask like this.

While seemingly a simple build – and it generally is – there’s a few neat parts to this project by Olivier Ros. You need to remove the microphone part of an audio board add-on, and Olivier also teaches you how to correctly install the built device so that the microphone is isolated and to reduce feedback. There’s even a button to change between voice types!

A good Doc Brown costume can mostly be made with just a lab coat, cool shades, and a frizzy wig. A great Doc Brown costume includes custom-made props from the Back to the Future series, such as the flux capacitor that makes time travel possible, and the time circuit for setting your destination, such as Carl Monk’s outfit here.

The circuit part of the build is fairly simple, making use of several seven-segment displays to ape the style of the films, and they’re housed in a simple box to complete the look. Carl has an exhaustive build tutorial on his website as well, if you wish to pick it apart.

Check back for part two on Monday…

Reading Time: 3 minutes

We interviewed Luis Martin Nuez about this blood-curdling costume idea a few years ago. It’s very basically a Raspberry Pi with a Camera Module that displays what it sees on the screen live. The camera is attached to his back, with the screen on his stomach, and the preview mode is used to create the illusion that he has been shot through the stomach. Grisly.

As this is an older project, some of the parts may be unnecessary or easy to upgrade to better versions. We also recommend you use a screen solution that is powered by your Raspberry Pi so that you can use a portable battery charger instead.

The point of a Game Boy is that it’s small and you can fit it into your pocket. Turning yourself into a portable console as a costume sort of ruins that aspect of it, but at least you are then still portable.

The costume itself (by MikeHandidate) is very simple, with a couple of cardboard sheets painted to make it look like the classic Game Boy Color. It’s got a pretty big screen though, so it may need a bit more power than your standard mobile battery. Having the gloves work as custom controllers adds an extra level of complexity to the build; however, GPIO-based buttons are supported in RetroPie, so they shouldn’t be too hard to do.

This build combines many things we enjoy. Robots, simple electronics, googly eyes, flashing lights, and really fun, low-budget DIY construction.

Estefannie Explains It All used several technologies to power this suit, including Arduino supplies to power LEDs around the suit, a voice changer to giver herself a more robotic persona, and a Raspberry Pi to power the screen on the chest with several functions which are powered by a series of buttons. The jaw even moves depending on how she speaks!

And of course, it’s built using cardboard boxes and silver tape, meaning just about anyone can make the body.

Voice changers/amplifiers make for excellent parts in a scary costume, especially when installed in a scary skull mask like this.

While seemingly a simple build – and it generally is – there’s a few neat parts to this project by Olivier Ros. You need to remove the microphone part of an audio board add-on, and Olivier also teaches you how to correctly install the built device so that the microphone is isolated and to reduce feedback. There’s even a button to change between voice types!

A good Doc Brown costume can mostly be made with just a lab coat, cool shades, and a frizzy wig. A great Doc Brown costume includes custom-made props from the Back to the Future series, such as the flux capacitor that makes time travel possible, and the time circuit for setting your destination, such as Carl Monk’s outfit here.

The circuit part of the build is fairly simple, making use of several seven-segment displays to ape the style of the films, and they’re housed in a simple box to complete the look. Carl has an exhaustive build tutorial on his website as well, if you wish to pick it apart.

Check back for part two on Monday…